A Muggle in Hogwarts
by d3pr3ss3dNhappy
Summary: The main character in this story is a Muggle; Anne (16 years), who stumbled upon Hogwarts while escaping her would-be murderers. She manages for a bit, then is caught by Malfoy.
1. How I got here

_It was a huge house, it had obviously once been magnificent, now however it lay a ruin, a mess of gray wood board nailed haphazardly and various signs stuck into the ground at odd angles bearing the warning "Not Safe" and "Beware" and "Turn Back At Once You Idiot" in peeling paint. But I was too preoccupied to stop, they were coming after me, with their guns, the house was my only hope of safety._

You can imagine my surprise when I slid under one of the rotting boards and found myself inside a magnificent marble hall. It seemed very much like those I had visited with my parents as a child. I heard the shouts of the men outside though, so I stopped admiring and hurried deeper into the building...and onto a staircase.

To say that my reaction was surprised would be a huge understatement, I mean, the staircase i moved i . It flew high into the air, my heart had stopped beating, when it landed I made sure to get off of it as soon as possible.

Once on solid ground, I took a few moments to recollect myself. I proceeded on through a long dark hall. The place was like a maze; it was far larger than any of the houses I had gone to with my family when we were attending parties. I wandered through many such corridors until I lost complete track or where I was, and I was feeling very tired.

_I just want to sleep,_I thought drowsily. I spotted a door opposite a tapestry showing a man being clubbed by some ugly, trollish creatures wearing tutus. The room I came into was like my dream room. All I really saw, though, was the huge comfy bed that lay in one corner. I lay down and was asleep instantly.

That was my first night at Hogwarts. Now, I could go on to describe in great detail the shock I received the next morning when I saw that the trolls were still clubbing poor ol' Bartholomew the Barmy, and that the children there could enchant the pictures to do the same, that witches and wizards_existed_ . But that would be boring, and I'm not here to bore you, merely to explain how I got suckered into this huge mess.

I remember the first time I met him. I was leaving Potions class; you see I could do perfectly well in the classes that did not require a wand. I loved standing in the dungeon, tipping the odd looking ingredients into the cauldron, watching it bubble and simmer and change colors. It was even better than Chemistry, my favorite Muggle subject. That was the word for normal people here, Muggle, its a silly name, but these are silly people. The think that making granite blocks float is perfectly logical, they find electricity _unlogical_.

The best thing about the classes I took was that the teachers rarely took much notice of me, Potions especially, Professor Snape, an odd greasy fellow with a sinister smile and poisonous attitude, glided about the room to torment students. He never bothered me, he even complimented me a few times. And graded me fairly. Unlike some of the other students. True, the Longbottom boy was rather hopeless at the subject, but he needed encouragement, not critisism. And the Potter kid, he should just learn to read the instructions, it's really not difficult.

That day I left Potions class feeling especially pleased with myself. I had concocted a very good Truth telling potion that was second only to Veritaserum. There had been a paper attached, but I hadn't done it. That's the beauty of living in a school, you can attend whichever classes you please and not do the homework.

After being stuck underground though, I felt like going out for a breath of fresh air. I decided to attend a Herbology class. I jauntily began to cross the grounds, eagerly gulping in the fresh air. That's when I noticed the pale blond boy staring at me. It wasn't a friendly look either.

I ignored it and continued on to Herbology class, wondering why he was staring at me. He was the Slytherin (part of a house system they used to organize their students) hotshot, some rich snot who bought his followers. I was rather surprised to see that his two cumbersome cronies and simpering girlfriend weren't around him. Then I remembered that they were in the Hospital Wing, afflicted with green pimples or something. I had been unfortunate to witness the jinxing.

He followed me, I walked faster, he walked faster. Suddenly I realized what it was._Shit,_ I thought. I was wearing Slytherin robes today. You see, that's another problem of sneaking into a selective private school, the uniforms are hard to come by. Especially in the right size, these kids are all so rich that a misfitting robe gets easily noticed. Normally I wore Hufflepuff robes, seeing as the House members were so good natured and accepting, but today those were dirty and the only fitting robes had been Slytherin._You should have realized this_, I scolded myself, _You should have anticipated that sooner or later you were going to get caught._ But another foolish part of my brain was saying i maybe if i make it to Herbology before he catches up with me... i But it was too late, he grabbed my elbow and hissed into my ear,

"You don't belong here."


	2. Memories

_My family fully disappeared when I was 14. They had been slowly picked off, one by one. First to go was my mother, she vanished when I was six. Afterwards my father became sullen. Never going out to family meetings and such. I remember one such conversation with my uncle about attending the family reunion. Of course, with my family a family reunion meant several hundred people and many ridiculous expenses. Still, I don't think that was the reason my had objected to attending._

_"I won't!" he had shouted, his voice carrying up the stairs to the landing I was sitting on with my twin brothers, "You can't make me!"_

_My uncle had replied in undertones that we couldn't catch._

_"I don't want that kind of life for my kids!" he'd gone on, "Look what happened to Marissa! That could have to Annie in ten/twenty years! Or David and Gordon!"_

_"They respect us!" My uncle thundered, clearly fed up, "They listen to us!"_

_"Yes, oh yes, they listen to us," my father replied hysterically, "They also devise ways to kill us off!"_

_"They pay greatly for our services, they know that the trouble could come up again, and they might need us!" Uncle Amos roared, "Think of our network, we have Tom and Alice in Wales, Petunia in_ _Surrey, Duncan in Gloucester!"_

_"Ah yes, we're so thinly spread it must not be hard for them to pick us off! They hate us, you've seen their Minister and some of his advisors, looking down their noses at us, as if they're superior because they can do—"_

_"—Shut up! Shut up, you fool! Can't you see you can't help it? The change has been done! It's been bred to your children, my children, and the entire branch! I'll go upstairs and take the children myself! They'll make useful –"_

_"—GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE WITH YOUR BLASPHEMOUS TALK! YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR HANDS ON THEM!"_

_We never did go to the family reunion; we did see our family members a few weeks later. At my father's funeral, they were there, at least Aunt Kate and Uncle Amos and Grandpa Joe. They didn't stay long though, just to extend their sympathies about Father's freak car accident and to offer to take us in. Gordon had stepped in there. He said that he and David, at 18, were perfectly capable of taking care of a 12 year old and that Amos need not worry. It was obvious that the argument was still_ _fresh in their memories. But they couldn't protect me. David disappeared the next year. Gordon became paranoid, cross-examining everyone from the clerk at the register to his own employer, until I saw him step into an unknown car outside our apartment 4 years ago. I haven't seen, nor heard from him since._

_In a way, I was glad when we were ostracized from our society. No more fancy parties and visiting fancy flats. I also was removed from my hoity-toity boarding school, where I had had to endure endless sympathies for my family. The highflying society had only been fun when my mother was alive, but…no, I am not going to talk about her now._

I made it my goal to track down my family's killers, I wouldn't let anything stop me, so when Draco Malfoy grabbed me to whisper his revelation gleefully, I kept my face as calm as possible and tried to deter him as best I could.

I could go on to relate the conversation that followed, but it wasn't very interesting, and was brought short by the unexpected arrival of an exuberant Herbology professor.

And so we proceeded to the green houses with this green thumb who really did belong in the loony bin. I've noticed that about most people here, they talk about making rocks float and imaginary ailments, like growing antlers, everyday.

Unfortunately, only a few were brought to public concern by means of a newspaper. The article was dead on refuting the idea of magical scars and surmising that the "victim" was insane. But I'm losing my train of thought…

Oh yes, my conversation with Malfoy. Well, he continued to harass me throughout Herbology, if it hadn't been for his inhalation of the sleep-inducing Largos pollen, I may have had to finish it. Funny though, I inhaled a bit too, it must not have been enough to knock me out. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, David had always said.

"Annie! Hey, Annie! Don't make me hex you to stop!" it was Malfoy, I paused while he caught up.

"How're you feeling? Y'know, you really should try to get a decent night's sleep, that way you won't doze off in class."

"Shut up, we still haven't established why you're here."

"I'm attending school here," I replied calmly, "in fact, I've started to wonder why you're here, surely your family didn't have much hope for you. Maybe you'll get lucky and the gamekeeper position will soon be open."

He flushed, "I haven't seen you do anything with magic," he retorted menacingly.

I waved my hand carelessly in the air, "I really don't have time to play," I said, adopting a mature, maternal tone, "there's so much to be done."

"There's so much to be done," Draco mimicked in a sarcastic, high-pitched voice, "Well, I'll just leave you at that then."

"If you insist," I sighed as though this were a huge disappointment.

"I'll go right n—wait," realization slowly dawned on his face, "I don't want to leave you alone, you still haven't answered my question."

"Way to go, Captain Obvious," I muttered under my breath.

"What sort of magic did you use just then? When you made me almost leave?" he asked curiously.

"Magic? That was not magic," I said, laughing, "That was simple reverse psychology."

"Reverse— are you sure you didn't leave the loony bin and wander here by mistake?" he asked, confused.

I grinned and shook my head and explained reverse psychology to him. He began to understand and was genuinely interested on the whole psychology subject when Crabbe&Goyle (they deserve to be one entity) came back from their sojourn with fungus in the hospital wing to reclaim their leader.

I watched them leave, and then hurried away to find somewhere to sleep.

I'm sure of it," Malfoy informed Crabbe and Goyle.

"Huh?" asked Crabbe, puzzled.

"She was talking to me about reverse psychology! That's a dead giveaway," Malfoy continued, ignoring the two of them.

"Reverse psychology?" Goyle asked, also puzzled.

"Some silly Muggle concept, but the fact that she knows about it proves that she is one of them," Malfoy grinned successfully. "Now to set a trap..."

_I was watching my mother put on her make-up, as I had done so often as a child. She was going out to a theater._

_"For work," she explained in answer to my unspoken question, "there may be some trouble, but I don't want you to worry. Nothing will happen to your Mommy."_

_She bent and gave my cheek a kiss, leaving the red lipstick imprint there._

_My mother returned to our house the next morning, paper in hand. On the front cover was a large picture of the very theater she had attended, blown to smithereens. My mother didn't have a scratch though, and took great pleasure in reading the article._

_"Pipe bomb," she laughed, "They do find the most ill-fitted cover-ups, don't they? Well, they can't have the truth out. I suppose the giant footprint and the high pitched whistle were all symptoms of it."_

_"Do giants exist, Mommy?" I asked. My mother had taken out a piece of her scented stationary (embossed with her name) and began to scrawl a brief message onto it._

_"Have you ever seen a giant Annie?" my mother replied teasingly, placing her letter inside and envelope and licking it shut. I shook my head._

_"Well what makes you think it exists then?" she had a knowing, confidant smile on her face as she said it. My father walked in at that moment and told my mother that she shouldn't worry me. They held a brief, silent conversation with their eyes. Then my mother stood up to put her letter in the post._

I awoke with a jolt, I had had that dream before, it was one of my only memories of my mother. This time I remembered something I had overlooked previously.

The next morning I walked out in the Great Hall to verify my hunch. Sure enough above the teacher's table hung the Hogwarts Coat of Arms. The very same coat of arms that had been on the envelope my mother had mailed.


	3. Ghosts

_"Hey, do you want a ride? It looks awfully cold out there?" The man asked, his face shadowed by a cap, his car puttering slowly to keep pace with me as I walked along a deserted road._

_"No thanks," I said, smiling, "I'm, um, just going to meet my brother, I'll be fine." I pulled my jacket closer to me against the cold. Like I would lack enough sense to jump into a car of strange men. Fine, only two strange men, but still._

_"It's no problem whatsoever, wouldn't like to keep your brother waiting," this man was rather hard to shake off. I thought rude would be the best approach._

_"Lemme state this clearly then, NO WAY, I do not take rides from strange men." I turned and quickened my pace, hoping he would get the message. The car motor started up, it was going to pass me, I thought. It did, roaring off into the distance._

_I relaxed, I had no brother waiting for me, I was going on foot to a town I had heard about through rumor. Some people at the inn I had just left had told me of a ghost village._

_"We don't go there much," the busboy had said, leaning forward conspiratorially, "People used to go off in that direction and come back with no recollection of where they had been, or who they were. Some people didn't come back at all."_

_I had done my best to hide my glee; these ghost villages were exactly what I had been looking for. They were my best hope to finding out what happened to my family._

_I knew they were important because once, while in London, my brother had steered me away from a dingy looking pub. It wasn't even all there; sometimes parts of it seemed to fade into the mist. For example, at one moment I would be able to see the roof, then I blinked and it was just a shadow. And the sign, I had never been able to read it, even though I knew there were words there. I had been able to get a glimpse of a cauldron before it too had faded._

_At first I had thought Gordon was moving me away from it because it was kind of a shady place, not very safe for a 14-year old girl. But that all changed once we were across the street._

_"Annie," David had said in a low voice, "do you see that building over there?"_

_"Yes," I had answered loudly, pointing at it, "but I can't read the—"_

_"Shh, shh, not so loud," he chastised me, looking around to see if anyone had overheard us, "if you ever see anything like that, all…misty and stuff, don't go near it."_

"_Why ever not?" I had asked, genuinely surprised, "What's wrong with it?"_

_"It's a…ghost building, we're not supposed to see them, don't act like you can." David struggled to find the right answer._

_"Can everybody see them?" I asked curiously._

_"No, well, actually yes, most could if they tried, that's how ghosts came about, people saw such…visions…and believed it to be superstition." He seemed confused with his answer though. Indeed, the eyes of everyone walking by drifted from the bookshop on one side to the clothing store on the other side._

_"Wait! Those people just went in—mmph!"_

_David had thrust his hand in front of my mouth, "Didn't I tell you to keep your mouth shut?" he whispered hoarsely, sounding afraid, "don't let on that you know."_

_"But they can too," I protested, "why can they admit to it and not us?"_

_"They…they're not normal," he mumbled, "they're downright dangerous, they are the kind of people who killed Mum."_

_I haddn't really want to believe him, but after he disappeared, these "ghosts" became my only clear lead to the mysterious circumstances surrounding my family's disappearances. So I had headed from the inn in direction of the ghost village, hoping to find clues._

_I shook myself out of my reverie. After the car had passed, I walked several minutes in complete silence, taking my time, enjoying the scenery; there was a deep forest to one side. I walked on, until I came to a gap in the forest, peering through, I saw a decrepit old building. As I leaned forward, I heard a faint whisper about a dentist's appointment but it completely faded in seconds._

_Vroom Vroom, I heard the car behind me, I turned to see it coming at me at full tilt, it wasn't going to_ _stop. Without thinking I leapt over the fence and ran towards the decrepit old building._

* * *

The Hogwarts symbol, it was the same as the one on my mother's letter. How could I have missed that? It was clearly out in the open, but I hadn't noticed it before. Now I was thoroughly confused, did magic have something to do with my parents' job? Had _they_been witches? No, that wasn't right, if it had been so, then they would have told me about it. But then…what had they been doing with those envelopes?

* * *

There she was, his victim. Standing there in the middle of the Great hall looking rather lost and in deep thought. What she was doing here was beyond him. But it seemed to perfect an opportunity to miss, a Muggle, right there. He'd see to it that his plan would go through.

* * *

"Hey, if you need somewhere to sit, you can sit here," a voice said to my right; Malfoy.

"Oh," I said, taken aback, usually I didn't dine much in the Great Hall, preferring to stay away from the prying eyes of staff and students, "er…sure."

"Move over, Pansy," Malfoy ordered, nodding the pudgy Slytherin girl sitting next to him. She complied grudgingly, when I sat down, she elbowed me in the ribs. I rubbed my ribs and turned to Malfoy, who was talking to me again.

"Here Annie, what would you like?" he gestured to the grand spread of food up and down the table. I shook my head.

"I'm fine, thanks, I'm not really that hungry, Malfoy," I said, feeling awkward sitting amongst all these staring eyes. I fidgeted with a strand of my golden hair, twirling it around my finger.

"Draco, please," he said, he was being suspiciously polite to me, I was definitely going to have to watch my step. I didn't care if I offended him, but I didn't want to let anything slip either. He threw a roll on my plate, "Here, eat this, you look like you need it. My own mother is like that, never very hungry. Pansy over there eats like a horse."

The elbow dug deeper into my rib, this time I couldn't blame her, Draco had been way too harsh on her, "No, it's just, I already ate." I fibbed, "I tend to eat like a horse as well, at times."

I rarely ate though, it was a habit instilled in me by my mother. She would have me eat before parties and such so I would look like a complete pig when I was there. Even though I had been a young child when I knew here, she had been striving to turn me into a starlet of society. Sweet and well mannered.

"Ah…" Draco said, looking me over quizzically, talk seemed to pause for a moment, everyone looking at us. I glanced back coolly, as though supremely unconcerned with the world. Finally he gave a short nod and talk gradually resumed. I simply listened, not really taking any of it in, picking at my roll. After a minute I realized Draco was talking to me.

"…last minute holiday shopping, I've been dying for a butter beer, what d'you say Annie?" he asked.

"Hmm?" I said politely, pretending to have my mouth full.

"Hogsmeade this afternoon. Its Saturday today, didn't you know?"

"Is it really? Well, I'll be glad to come, though I hadn't been planning on doing so, I'll have to get ready."

"Grand," he said, giving me another one of those false smiles, my gut churned, this didn't bode well, he turned to his groupies, "did you know that the Muggles call it a ghost village? Because they're too stupid to see the whole thing properly?" He began to laugh, everyone else at the table joined in, I grinned feebly, grinding my roll to pieces as I did so, feeling Pansy's elbow dig once more into my ribs. He stood up from the table.

My blood had run cold at the mention of the ghost village. This seemed to good to be true, the other day I had been fishing for anything resembling a clue; today two had dropped into my lap.

"I'll meet you in the Great Hall before lunch, okay?" Draco verified, his gaze hovering over the bits of bread covering me plate. I assented and he left, leaving me to wonder how I was going to manage surviving in a village of wizards for one afternoon.

* * *

"What did I tell you?" bragged Malfoy to his three friends, Goyle and Crabbe as usual, but this time Theodore Nott was there as well.

"You're right, I saw how she crumbled her roll to pieces when we mentioned Muggles," laughed Nott.

"Yes, now this plan cannot go wrong, alright?" Malfoy said, leaning forward conspiratorally, "Remember what to do, you must not fail me."

"Yessir," replied Crabbe and Goyle dully.

"Good," Malfoy straightened up and grinned at them all, "well then, lets go to Hogsmeade!"

* * *

At 11:30, I was waiting nervously outside the Great Hall, hoping I would come out of this alive. Pansy would clearly kill me the minute she had the chance. One body slam from her and I was done for. I was also worried about my outfit, which was definitely a muggle one. I was wearing worn blue jeans and a green chenille hoodie over a grey tank top, my blonde hair caught up in a ponytail. It was snowing out, but I wasn't too worried, cold didn't affect me much. Then I heard someone grunting.

"Shove aside, shove aside," it was Crabbe&Goyle together as always. They were leading the Slytherin entourage. I rolled my eyes. They really did think themselves high and mighty. Draco spotted me, he was wearing a black pea coat over trousers with a hat, an obvious muggle combination, and the other members of his group were also dressed in various muggle outfits. My clothes were safe then. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come along Annie," he said, grabbing my arm, I found myself being propelled through the Great Hall and towards a horseless carriage. Then, before I could protest, I was in the carriage and heading towards Hogsmeade, full of apprehension.

* * *


End file.
